Cladding around window and door surrounds is used for adorning building facades. The traditional method of creating cladding is to manufacture the component parts in a factory and then to ship those component parts to the building site. The component parts are then mounted on the window or door reveal using mortar applied between the component parts and the building facade, and between the component parts themselves.
This method has a number of inherent limitations. Firstly, it requires skilled workers, i.e. masons at the site for the assembly and construction of the cladding; secondly it is time-consuming; and thirdly, the finished cladding does not permit the components to move relative to one another. This last problem leads to cracking and crazing of the cladding and/or the building structure around the window or door reveal over time due to strains and stresses within the building.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,850,292 (Skelly) discloses a cabinet mounted in a recess of a wall (e.g. in a bathroom) by means of a fixing device comprising two V-shaped lugs, each mounted to a plate. One lug is attached to the building wall and the other to the cabinet. In use, a set of lugs, on each side of the cabinet, interlock to hold the cabinet immovably in position in the recess.
DE-C-79 383 (Grove) discloses means for attaching an inspection cover plate to a recess in a pipe conduit. The inspection cover plate has two hook-like flanges attached to the underside thereof. A frame in the recess for receiving the cover plate has slots into which the flanges are placed. The cover plate is then slid to one side and the flanges are jammed beneath and behind the frame, thus securing the cover plate.
EP-A-0 282 686 (Eckelt) relates to the installation of glass facades in a surrounding frame. The horizontal members of the frame are provided with hook-shaped slots which receive pins carried by the glass facade, such that the facade is locked rigidly into position in the surrounding frame by the slot-and-pin arrangement.
DE-A1-42 04 869 (Waldner) relates to a coupling for securing a laminar building component, especially a screen, to another laminar building component, especially a wall element or a ceiling element. The coupling consists of a first coupling member which is secured to one of the laminar building components, and a second coupling member which is secured to the other laminar building component. At least two guides are formed in the first coupling member, the guides describing circular arcs with a common centre and different radii. One of the guides extends almost rectilinearly and the other extends arcuately. At least two pins on the second coupling member may be located in the guides. To secure the laminar building component one pin is placed in the arcuate guide and is pushed thereinto until the second pin engages its corresponding rectilinear guide. The two pins are then pushed home, the pin in the rectilinear guide being held securely in place by a snap-in device and the other pin being held in place due to the arcuate shape of the other guide. Where the building component is a wall element the arcuate guide can extend in a generally downward direction.
The building component may be detached by reversing the above attachment steps. Thus, when using such a coupling the building component is securely seated in all three spatial dimensions and can nevertheless be released again without ancillary means and without dismantling any connector.
DE-1 659 541 (B.I.P. Brevets Inventions Promotions S.A.) discloses an adjustable door and window frame assembly for various openings and a method for its installation. The frame assembly consists of a frame to be fixed in the window or door opening, adjustable connectors for mounting on the frame and an outfit for clothing the frame which is received on the connectors.
In practice, the frame is first fixed in the opening. Connectors are then positioned in slots in the vertical sides of the frame and are adjusted so as to accommodate the outfit for clothing the frame. These connectors are in the form of brackets onto which corresponding flanges on the outfit sit. The horizontal part of the outfit is fixed to the frame by bolting it to connecting plates.
Fitting such a frame assembly would take some time and would require skilled labour, as the connectors must be carefully adjusted to receive the outfit correctly. Once in place the frame assembly is firmly secured within the window or door opening.
The term "cladding" as used herein means all kinds of decorative or functional wall coverings for building structures or any kind of free-standing structures. In particular, it includes all types of coverings for both external and internal building walls and freestanding walls.
The term "reveal" as used herein means a wall opening, aperture or recess for a window or door surround or a panel. It is the portion of the side of a door or window between the line where the window frame or door frame stops and the outer edge of the opening starts.